Democrats Vow Revival At Meeting

Gop Conferees Focus On White House Bid

January 20, 1995|By Cox News Service.

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the Democratic Party's winter strategy meeting, the new party chairman, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), vowed Thursday to bring the party back from the "death sentence" of last November's election.

But Republican Party Chairman Haley Barbour, opening his own party's three-day winter meeting, set the GOP's sights on capturing the White House from President Clinton next year while expanding its majority in Congress.

And to promote Democratic discord over Dodd's appointment, Barbour said at a news conference that Clinton had chosen "a big-government liberal to be the public advocate for his big-government liberal policies."

Democratic Party centrists have been grumbling since Dodd's selection last week that the Connecticut senator is too liberal and that Clinton should have picked a moderate figure more in tune with the mood of the country.

However, at a breakfast with reporters, Dodd included himself among those Democrats who are "willing to come to grips" with the notion that last November's election was "profound" and not merely a "speed bump."

Assessing the election, which gave the Republicans majorities in the House and Senate, Dodd said working Americans had lost faith that the Democratic Party was concerned about their economic security and personal safety.

"The Democratic Party got a death sentence on Nov. 8," Dodd said. "And as someone once said, nothing concentrates the mind like one."

But he insisted that middle-class Americans could be wooed back with a revitalized party and a renewed commitment to party ideals and principles.

He vowed to "borrow a page from Lee Atwater's book" and, as the late Atwater did with the GOP, start rebuilding the party from the ground up.

Dodd said one of the first tasks is to erase the party's $4 million debt, overhaul the national party apparatus and re-establish ties to state parties, a task that will largely be undertaken by Dodd's co-chairman, Don Fowler of South Carolina.

Dodd said the dual leadership arrangement with Fowler is "awkward, but very manageable and very doable . . . a team effort."

The main attractions at the Republican meeting are the two GOP congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas and House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia.

Barbour said the GOP's focus through 1996 will be expanding the congressional majorities it won last fall and "to give them a Republican president."